Duskwood: Love's Beginning

21 - Jayna

Oh, no. We got disconnected, and Jake's last text to me was cut off or garbled. What had he meant to say?! It seemed like he was going to say "I think it would be better..." What would be better? I could think of a million answers to that question, and none of them made me happy. I could only hope that he had lost his internet connection or run out of battery. He would fix it and come back later to let me know he was OK. Right? I felt sick again. How was I going to sleep at all?

Well, I'd better keep working on the phone list, as he had asked. I didn't want him to think that he couldn't depend on me and that I'd let my emotions get in the way of our work. I'd already probably put him in too much danger–flirting with him, throwing myself at him, essentially, until he'd broken down and started to give in to our mutual attraction. He'd said himself that I distracted him. That put him in danger.

I felt so guilty. Tears pricked my eyes as I opened up the phone log. I blinked them away hastily and got to work.

I was rudely interrupted a short time later by Lilly of all people. WTF? She said she needed my help. But she had my curiosity piqued when she mentioned Jake and his connection to Hannah. I wanted to demand she tell me but managed to restrain myself. There was something important here. Whatever he told her had given him a small reprieve from her video. If her deadline was looming, I had to work with her to give her what she wanted and protect Jake from further persecution.

I smiled wanly at the words "Jayna is the key." Even in his absence, he was still with me. I had to be strong for him.

When I opened up my chat with Jake, there was a message with the other half of the link that Lilly needed. I smirked at his genius. I hadn't even gotten a text notification! I didn't know how he did these things.

Still feeling warm and fuzzy, I mentioned offhandedly to Lilly that Jake knew I liked puzzles. Then I frowned at Lilly's snarky comment; "Good for you and Jake.". What a little wench! I would have to remember that she was not my friend, and I couldn't be swooning over Jake in texts with her. She couldn't be trusted.

When I opened up the link, I knew what to do. I was in my element, and I felt Jake in my heart as I worked.

Now, Lilly was getting nosy. What business was it of hers whether Jake and I were a couple? Plus, I didn't really know the answer to that myself. It wasn't something we had discussed. It was certainly what I wanted, but I couldn't just assume that it was what he wanted too. Plus, I knew he could read this chat later, and I didn't want to embarrass myself. So I gave her the ever-evasive "It's complicated" answer.

But I couldn't resist asking her why she wanted to know. Had Jake told her something?

Turned out that she was the second one to remark to me that Jake showed feelings for me back when he tried to stop the vote. Jessy was the first to say something. As neither of them seemed to like or trust Jake, and they were very different from each other, I found it interesting that they'd both come to the same conclusion. I hadn't seen it that way–I simply saw a man trying to accomplish a goal, and wanting everyone to see the logic behind his words.

I wondered how I had missed what they both had apparently seen. Maybe at that point, I wasn't sure of my own feelings. Or I didn't think it was possible for him to reciprocate them? I wasn't sure.

I was ruminating on this so much, though, because Jake was relying upon my emotional readings to help this investigation. If I had been so blind about reading his emotions, what else had I misinterpreted? It worried me a little. Was I missing something–or misreading someone in the group, even? Jake had told me repeatedly not to trust any of them. Other than Lilly, obviously, after that whole vote and video thing, I had not really heeded his words. It concerned me. I thought they were all my friends, but maybe I needed to be more suspicious.

Little princess Lilly told me she was logging off while also giving me orders to keep working. This girl had a baby sister complex if I'd ever seen it. I rolled my eyes. I had 2 hours to get some rest before I had to wake up again, so the brat would have to wait.